Download the SD Formatter, which you can find here so that we can install the disk image to the card later.

Once the download is complete you’ll need to extract the .

zip folder.

Follow the installation instruction, you can keep everything as the default except for the card selection.

Make sure this is pointing to your SD card.

Once you click Format, it will display a warning prompt stating that the Formatter will erase all data on the card.

This is exactly what we want it, so click Yes.

Raspberry Pi is Linux based so you can install a variety of images, including Ubuntu.

For the sake of this tutorial, we will start with the OS that Raspberry Pi foundation has made available specifically for the Pi called NOOBS and Raspbian.

NOOBS is recommended for those new to the Pi so let’s use that.

Go to the Raspberry Pi downloads page, and select the ZIP download on the left.

This download will take some time, depending on your machine.

Once it’s done, go to the .

zip location of the disk image, right click, and Extract All to your SD card, labeled D: for me.

Once that is complete, which may also take a few minutes, You can safely eject your SD card and insert the microSD into your Raspberry Pi and turn it on.

Hook it up to your monitor via the HDMI2 cable as well as your keyboard and mouse.

Once the Pi is on, everything is just like setting up any other computer for the first time.

It will prompt you to connect to WiFi if you’re not using Ethernet and then select the OS to install.

Choose Raspbian, which is listed as the recommended installation and then click Install on the top left.

The installation will take some time, maybe 10–15 minutes as it did for me.

But once this is done, you will have a fully functioning and ready-to-go Raspberry Pi!If you ever want to SSH into your Pi instead of interacting via the GUI on your monitor, just open a terminal window and type hostname -I at the command prompt and press Enter to get your IP address.